Letter: Bicyclists need to ride responsibly

Editor: It seems that a ghost bike in St Augustine has become some kind of memorial. Perhaps a memorial for carelessness

It appears that bicyclists believe that drivers have X-ray vision and can stop and turn their passenger cars on a dime.

The only X-Ray vision I know of is Superman’s and the only cars that can stop and turn on a dime are Formula 1 cars.

As far as I know no one owns a Formula 1 car in St Johns County. At least I have never seen one.

For every properly clad bike rider there must be at least two or more morons. Case in point, the rider biking along Solona Road about 6:30 a few nights ago, heading west, on the shoulder of the road, with no light and dark clothing. If oncoming cars were not swerving into my lane I would have never seen him.

If he gets run over, well those are the breaks, but if oncoming traffic had hit me or other traffic riding in the other lane, that’s something else. I am absolutely sure bicyclists carry no liability insurance, therefore there would be no one to sue for damages. Riding a bike is a most noble thing to do in these days of rising gas prices, but not at the expense of motorists who are supposed to know what you are going to do next or see you in the dark,.

I don’t have X-ray vision and although I wish I had Formula 1 car, I don’t My car weighs 3,500, pounds, braking distances are longer and my turning circle larger.

Wear the proper reflective clothing and use the proper signals or accept the consequences. Please don’t ruin my day because of your stupidly.

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From your letter, I learned that Christian and Bryan merely "accepted the consequences" of their own "carelessness" and that they "ruin(ed) [the] day" of the motorists who killed them and left them in the road.

If I ever hit someone, a dent in my car would not even enter my mind. There are drivers, cyclists and pedestrians who sometimes do something stupid - none of us are robots - many are careless or distracted, and a split second is all it takes to end a life.

The results of a fatal accident does a little more than ruin someone's day.

Actually, my car insurance does cover me while on my bicycle. Yours would too. I realize that not everyone riding a bike has car insurance, but that's why you have PIP coverage.

The law requires that you give cyclists 3 feet of space when passing - if it can't be done safely, then you need to slow down and wait until you can. If a car swerves into your lane to avoid a bicycle and hits you, it's their fault, not the cyclist's. So don't worry, you can sue them.

that I forgot to mention. Just watch the traffic patterns when there is a cyclist ahead of us. Instead of slowing down to insure the cyclist is safe, all of a sudden some drivers seem to speed up. What is so important that we can't all just slow down? My problem is not with the person on the bike, it is with all of the angry drivers tail-gating me while I'm attempting to get by safely. Not everyone - there are a lot of us who cooperate with each other to ensure safety for all, but there's always one or two who do something so risky that it's frightening for me - so I can't even imagine how the cyclist must feel.